Tasted blind: Beautiful straw, gold colour. Glorious intense nose of pineapple, lemon, honey, and toast. Only a hint of aged “kerosene” found in aged Rieslings. And a palate to match! Very intense and opulent with honey, lemon, toast, and nougat. Long clean acid and mineral finish. This was something special and we all went back for multiple ‘tastes’ until the masked bottle was empty. We agreed this was a beautifully aged Aussie Riesling with some debate whether it was Watervale or Eden Valley. There was NO debate on the drinkability of this wine! Outstanding. 98/100. Drink now – it’s at its best.

1998 Chateau d’Yquem, 1er Grand Cru, Sauternes, France.

Tasted Blind: The moment you bring this to your nose, you know it’s something special! The nose is flooded with aromas of pineapple, apricots, marmalade, and vanilla creme fraiche. Although the botrytis character is not strong, the palate follows the nose with sweet pineapple, vanilla, marmalade and spice. Nice acid to balance. Went well with cheese and dried figs. Fairly easy for all to pick this as a top wine from Sauternes. Most agreed d’Yquem or Rieussec. 94/100. Enjoyable now but will continue to develop for another 15-20 years. The 375ml bottles ages quite quickly.

Opened a bottle of 2003 Tatiarra Trademark Shiraz for dinner. 15.5% alcohol and a multi regional blend from Heathcote in Victoria and from McLaren Vale in South Australia. Winemaker Ben Riggs.

Interesting Tatiarra Story

2003 Tatiarra Trademark Shiraz

Well cellared. No wine travel on cork

The wine was perfectly cellared (as you can see from the lack of travel on the cork).

It was very dumb on opening and needed a good 2 hours of decanting before reaching its best. Lovely brick red colour. Incredible rich and pungent nose full of bright red berries, pepper and spice, violets, marzipan, and fruit cake. A delighful nose full! Rich and creamy mouthfeel with lashings of pepper, spicy oak, berry fruit and cedar. Great structure and well integrated tannins. Very long finish. A true over the top hedonistic Aussie wine. Will keep easily for another 5+ years. Score 95/100. Purchase price $60.

1998 Orlando Jacaranda Ridge Cabernet. From the Coonawarra region and grown in its famous Terra Rossa soils in South Australia. I remember buying a 6 pack of this wine in 2001 and stashing it away in the bowels of my cellar. It has aged brilliantly. On opening, a beautiful waft of dark friut, ribena blackcurrent juice, spicy oak and dusty cocoa. Brick red with a dark core. Smelt far fresher than a 15 year old wine had any right to!! Sensuous palate of soft berry fruit, moccha and cedar. Dusty well integrated tanins and a very long drying finish. Still fresh, clean and mouthcoating. Perfect accompaniment for a rare scotch fillet steak followed by St Agur cheese. Yum! Rating 96/100. Purchased $46.99 in 2001. (See photo)